Obama and Romney Tread Familiar Fundraising Ground in May

President Barack Obama and his Republican rival will likely shake the hands of thousands of unknown citizens in their race to win voters’ hearts between now and November. But when it comes to the all-important money trail leading to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the trail is starting to look familiar.

Obama and his Republican White House challenger Mitt Romney both trod on familiar territory during their May march for campaign dollars, according to a preliminary analysis by Center for Responsive Politics.

Overall, the Obama campaign outraised the Romney campaign, $39 million to $23.4 million during May. But Obama spent about $5 million more than he took in, while Romney managed to bank about $8 million, narrowing the president’s sizable cash-on-hand advantage.

Still, it was a star-studded month for Obama, as the president continued his love affair with Hollywood, raking in nearly $550,000 from individual donors in the television, movies and music industry, a boost that came in part thanks to a star-studded celebrity fundraiser held for the president and the Democratic party by mega-celebrity George Clooney.

The effort helped Hollywood earn a place among Obama’s fundraising A-list in May, moving it from twelfth to fifth among Obama’s top industries that month. He’s now collected almost $2.9 million from individuals affiliated with the industry.

But other than the Hollywood bump, the sources of Obama’s campaign cash remained fairly static. The president raised nearly $3 million from retired donors in May, a group which has held the top spot for both Obama and Romney for the entire cycle so far.

Lawyers and the education industry meanwhile continued to pour a steady flow of cash into the president’s coffers. The law industry kicked in nearly $400,000 in May to bring its total to $1.3 million for the cycle, and the education field gave another $450,000 to climb to a total of $1 million.

GOP rival Mitt Romney meanwhile continued to work his Wall Street connections. The former hedge fund pioneer collected nearly $694,000 from individuals and political action committees in the securities and investment industry last month. Some of that came straight from his old firm: Romney received $5,000 from Bain Capital PACs and employees, and $7,500 from Bain & Co., a separate company that’s run under the same brand, in May.

Despite continuing attacks on that connection, Obama continued to dip his hand into the Bain cookie jar as well, taking no less than $450 from Bain Capital and $2901 from Bain & Co.

Romney also collected plenty from the law industry — $550,000 in contributions, enough to make it his third-largest cash reserve in May.

Another area of distinction between Obama and Romney: the gender split of their donors.

Women contributed 41 percent of Obama’s May total and 29 percent of Romney’s. Both candidates relied more heavily on men in May than any other month in 2012; Obama’s previous lowest percentage of donations from women was 45 percent, and Romney’s was 30 percent.

Small-dollar donors played a larger role in Obama’s fundraising than Romney’s during May. 17 percent of Romney’s total came from people who gave under $200, while such donations made up 35 percent of Obama’s take.

As the two candidates continued their furious fundraising work on the campaign trail, their supporting super PACs also continued at their own pace. While the candidates are forced to stump for checks from donors beholden to limits, Priorities USA Action and Restore Our Future are both free from such restrictions. They’re able to take million-dollar checks in a single bound — and during May, they continued to do just that.

Thanks to the help of three brand new millionaire donors, Priorities, the super PAC supporting Obama’s reelection bid, posted its best fundraising month yet in May,

Priorities raked in over $4 million last month, more than doubling the $1.6 million it raised in April. Three individual donations accounted for over three-fourths of the group’s total haul: Texas attorney Steve Mostyn chipped in $1.5 million in May while Florida philanthropist Barbara Stiefel and Washington, D.C. real estate developer Franklin Haney each cut $1 million checks.

Repeat Priorities USA contributors in May include Newsweb owner Fred Eychaner, who donated $350,000, and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, who donated $25,000 after a $100,000 contribution in April.

And although the Obama campaign refuses to accept donations from lobbyists, the super PAC supporting the president is open to K Street dollars. Perennial Strategy Group gave $500,000 to Priorities USA last month. Majority PAC, which supports Senate Democratic candidates, was the only other super PAC to benefit from lobbyist money in May, receiving $50,000 Gerald Cassidy of Cassidy & Associates.

Priorities USA reported $4.5 million cash on hand and claimed it has also raised an additional $4 million so far in June.

Meanwhile, Restore Our Future‘s fundraising still wasn’t what it was in March, but improved over April’s numbers. After raising $8.7 million in March, the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC brought in just $4.6 million in April and $5 million in May.

But the group received its own boost last week when casino mogul Sheldon Adelson reportedly donated $10 million, which will show up on Restore Our Future’s July disclosure report. Adelson’s contribution and the $8.4 million Restore Our Future reported having on hand at the end of May will go towards a $7 million ad buy in eight swing states the PAC made earlier this week.

Restore Our Future was also aided by new donors in May, including Warren Stephens, a Little Rock investment banker who donated $500,000. The PAC also received two separate donations of $333,333 and one of a dollar more from three different companies with the same return address.

All are tied to Robert Brockman, the CEO of the Reynolds & Reynolds Co., as the Sunlight Foundation originally reported.

Texas businessman Harold Simmons, also a top individual donor this cycle, gave another $500,000 to Restore Our Future, bringing his super PAC contribution total this cycle to $15.2 million, second only to Adelson. Pennsylvania medical executive Rocco Ortenzio also contributed an additional $500,000 to the PAC after donating $250,000 in April.

May represented the best fundraising month for another conservative super PAC, American Crossroads, since January. The group hauled in over $4.5 million last month after raising a relatively puny $1.8 million in April and $1.2 million in March. The Karl Rove-connected super PAC has plenty of ammunition stockpiled for the final 20 weeks of the campaign, though, reporting over $29 million in reserves at the end of May.

Joe Craft, the CEO of Alliance Resource Partners, provided Crossroad’s largest single contribution last month, donating $1.25 million to the group.

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